The biggest clash of the Serie A weekend will see two of the Peninsula's proverbial footballing giants, Juventus and A.C. Milan, take on one another in the Juventus Stadium.
Juventus go into the game on the back of a disappointing 2-2 draw at home to Galatasaray, in which uncharacteristic defensive errors proved to be costly. Antonio Conte however, has brushed aside criticism of his team, stating that their form in the Serie A (5 wins and 1 draw), is enough to suggest that his side have had a good start to the season:
"I am not surprised that people are criticising Juventus and attempting to destabalise the club's environment. We haven't lost yet this season... these mumours can cause problems, but I am relaxed as we have worked hard."
"Our players are getting back to their best shape. In the Serie A, we are fighting hard against a great Roma side who have won every game, while we have won 5 and drew 1. I feel we are where we are expected to be."
"We seem to be in this situation where if we don’t win then people say we’re worthless, but I understand that. We are well aware that we can always improve, especially at the start of the season, but the same people panicking now are the ones who a few weeks ago said we’d be unstoppable."
"In Europe, we have had more shots on goal than any other team, which is an important and positive statistic. There were a few too many individual errors, but these things can happen in football.”
Ahead of Sunday night's fixture, La Vecchia Signora's head coach also took the time to praise Milan, and former Juventus player, Alessandro Matri:
“It is a match between two great teams who are targeting the Scudetto. If Milan had not been up against Juventus over the last two years, they probably would’ve won both those titles."
"The Rossoneri have an excellent group of players who have belief in their qualities, and for three seasons they have been consistently at the top of Italian football. This will certainly be a match between two teams who can take the Scudetto. Alessandro Matri? I hope he doesn’t start scoring in a Milan shirt against us. He’s an excellent player and a lovely guy who will go far.”
Like Juventus, A.C. Milan could only manage a draw in their midweek Champions League fixture, as they needed a last minute penalty to draw 1-1 away to Ajax. Ahead of the game at the Juventus stadium, A.C. Milan coach, Max Allegri revealed that he expects a difficult evening:
The match will be very difficult, because Juventus will be much more motivated than usual after they were criticised for their draw against Galatasaray in the UEFA Champions League. I believe that criticism was not fair because Juventus delivered a good performance and Galatasaray shot at goal only a couple of times. Therefore, Juventus deserved much more from the game. As usual, the analysis is only based on the final result."
"It's the last match of an important and difficult series of matches," he added. "We've had very few players available and I couldn't let some players take a deserved break. Tomorrow we have to produce another great effort and arrive in Turin ready to play an intense, important and technical match. It won't be easy at all."
Team News:
Juventus - Buffon, Chiellini, Ogbonna, Pogba, Marchisio, Tevez, De Ceglie, Giovinco, Peluso, Llorente, Barzagli, Motta, Bonucci, Padoin, Pirlo, Asamoah, Vidal, Quagliarella, Storari, Isla, Rubinho.
A.C. Milan - Abbiati, Amelia, Gabriel, Abate, Constant, Mexes, Zaccardo, Zapata, Emanuelson, De Jong, Montolivo, Muntari, Nocerino, Poli, Saponara, Matri, Niang, Robinho.
